Page 46 of Surge of Ice

Zane doesn’t falter. “I said to leave the cat alone.”

The man smirks. “Make me.”

Zane’s eyes flash with rage. “With pleasure.”

I have never seen anyone move as fast as Zane does. One minute, he’s in front of me, the next he’s in front of the man beating the shit out of him. I’m pretty sure his opponent was knocked out, but he’s still beaten for several long seconds before he even hits the floor.

Then Zane flashes a smile at the other three. “Your turn.”

They don’t even hesitate. They run like hell right back out of the alley, like the very hounds of hell are chasing them. And,for a moment, I think Zane might chase after them, but then he turns back to the mess of a cat on the ground.

Moving to the cat, he kneels down and puts out his hand. “Hello, little one.”

The cat snarls and attacks his hand, latching onto it with its little teeth.

Zane doesn’t even react. He just scoops the cat up with his good hand and cradles the cat against his chest. He looks pleased as can be while it snarls and growls in his grip.

“This little one is coming back with us. We will take care of her, and she’ll be our best friend in no time at all.”

I look between the blood rolling down his hand and his face with a doubtful expression. “Maybe it’d be better to leave it here…”

He gives me a funny look. “If we leave her here, she could be hurt. With us, she’ll be safe.” Then he heads for the car.

There is no way that angry ball of fur is ever going to be our best friend, but I decide to keep that thought to myself. I’m used to wild animals, who will give you respect but not love, so maybe he knows better than me.

He stops and picks up a small, clean-ish box from the ground and gets into the car. Pulling out the first aid kit, I check that Dahlia is breathing normally, then quickly clean up her wound and bandage it. Her having lost consciousness isn’t a good thing, but all other signs point to the fact that she’ll be okay.

I climb into my seat, then watch Zane deposit the angry ball of fur into the box by his feet before closing the top. At last, the doors to the car are closed, silencing some of the chaos from outside.

I release a slow breath and open the first aid kit once more. It’s funny. He’s got small cuts and bruises on his face, and probably on the rest of him, from all the fighting, but his worst injuries are definitely from the cat.

“Let me see your hand,” I say. “Cat bites can get pretty nasty.”

He sets his hand in my lap, and I get to work cleaning out his wound, then bind it up the best I can. When I’m done, I return the first aid kit to the glove box, grateful that Evander’s people had pointed out that there was one in every car.

“We’ll need to get you looked at by the doctors when we get back,” I say, turning his hand over in my lap.

“I will be fine.”

My head jerks up at the low, aroused sound of his voice. I barely have a moment to think before his lips descend on mine, and we’re kissing. The world fades away, leaving nothing but him and me behind.

He pulls me into my lap until I’m straddling him. With firm hands, he jerks me down, so that I’m rubbing on top of his obvious erection. A shudder rolls through me, and I rub harder, until it’s hard to catch my breath. He starts kissing and sucking his way down my neck when the thought occurs to me that he might be marking me.

“Shit,” I mutter and go to climb off, but he holds me firmly in place.

“What’s wrong?”

“When we get back, I’m already going to smell like you you can’t mark me too. The guys will lose their minds.”

“So, let them. Eventually, they will have to accept that I am your mate.”

It’s hard to argue when I’m staring into his perfect baby blues, so I close my eyes. “Eventually, but not yet.”

He groans and releases me, and very slowly, I climb off.

It takes me a minute to calm myself enough to buckle up and put the car in reverse. “Right now, we just have to focus on getting home safely and getting Dahlia taken care of. We can talk about everything else later.”

“Yes, Samantha, but wewillfinish this later,” he says, and something about his words sends goosebumps dancing across my flesh.

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